worn out Kobelco

[jjfpuru]

Hi My old and abused Kobelco 115SR slowed down on left track and slew. Engineer came and diagnosed solenoid on main pump, replaced with new/second hand one now working better but still pretty poor. Engineer says pump is 80% worn and I should get rid of it. 2 weeks later he has rung to say he has someone who will buy it.

I dont think a pump will suddenly fail and suspect there is dirt bocking a pilot solenoid or some thing similar?

I am arranging for a Kobelco service engineer to come and check pressure/flows etc and advise options.

This service is quite expensive so would anyone like to comment on the best way forward?

 

[Vetech63]

Let them test flows and pressures first....then you can go forward. Odds are you don't have the tooling needed to check much.

 

[Coaldust]

Old and abused Kobelco pumps have a tendency to fail suddenly. Slowly at first, then all of a sudden.

Creating catastrophic failure and heartbreak, all around. Spreading shards of metal throughout the system. Contaminating everything. Destroying your savings account, just like my last wife destroyed my savings account.

Contaminates will scour your main stems, clogging the relief valves and eating the cylinder packing. Nothing good will come of it. Then, that old Kobelco will sit in your backyard for years.

Until an energetic homeowner with a YouTube channel purchases it and hauls it away.

 

[Legdoc]

"just like my last wife..." now that's funny! I'm sure painful though.

 

[LACHAU]

The simplest thing you can do is to remove the return filter in the hydraulic tank to see if it has metal filings.
The second thing is to remove the main pump's drain pipe (PF1/2) and collect it in a prepared container to see how much hydraulic oil flows out after 5 minutes of work. The more hydraulic oil flows out, the more degraded your machine's main pump is.

 

[jjfpuru]

That sounds like an excellant program
many thanks

 

[jjfpuru]

I had Kobelco agent spend several hours with my machine I had asked them to bring equipment to test pressures and flows but that did not ahppen. Unforunately I could not be there so his conclusion is the pump is worn and he is supposed to be getting back with repair/replace quotes. I am still not convinced it is anything other than control system being either computor or sticky/dodgy conections to a solenoid/s
I think it is starting in s mode and not changing to H mode, the display has not worked for some time. Does anyone know how to get the machine on manual mode without using the KPPS switch, that just holds the squash plate at a low angle. Actually the machine speeds up with the KPPS switch in use?